A free desktop and iphone wallpaper download to help readers and book lovers make more time to read.
Last night, Jarrett and I brushed our teeth, put on our pajamas, cozied into bed, and pulled out our phones. We sat there, side by side, looking straight at those little glowing screens, transfixed by what was inside.
Which for me, was maybe memes on Instagram. And for Jarrett, was probably MgoBlog. I’m not sure which is more intellectually embarrassing, but let’s just say that neither is a tour-de-force of critical thinking.
(What? You’re saying that reading about Michigan football is much better than memes, because at least it’s words and analysis? Pipe down, please, is what I say.)
Do you ever get in bed, ready to read a book, but end up on your phone instead? Or maybe you’re tired at the end of the workday and you end up watching TV instead of reading? Or you have an endless to-do list and making time to read somehow always gets pushed to the bottom of it?
I personally have never done those things, because my life is books and I always make time to read.
(Can you hear how hard I’m laughing? That is a rolling-on-the-floor hilarious lie.)
The truth is, I am hopelessly weak in the face of technology and distractions, and sometimes it’s really hard for me to make time to read. Maybe you, too?
But over the years, I’ve tried nearly every kind of experiment to try to become intentional and disciplined about making time to read, especially with setting boundaries between screen time and reading time.
Here are 3 things I experimented with on my quest to make time to read:
- I deleted Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram from my phone. (Sneaky, sad me now mostly checks them through the browser.)
- I cancelled cable. (I don’t miss it. And that’s because: Netflix! Which sort of defeats the purpose here, right?)
- I lived a whole year without Internet or a TV in my apartment. (I know this sounds like a crazy hermit thing, but it was surprisingly fun. I cooked! I took bubble baths! I doodled and played with watercolors! I read untold amounts of books! I could never do it again.)